Governor for steam and fluid engines



(No Model.)

A. L. IDE.

GOVERNOR FOR STEAM AND FLUID ENGINES.

No. 319,260. Patented June 2, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT L. IDE, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

G OVERNOR FOR STEAM AND FLUID ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 319,260, dated June 2, 1885.

Application filed April 22, 1882. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. Inn, of Springfield, in the county of Sangamon and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Governors for Steam and Fluid Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the let: ters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electric governors for steam-engines, and embraces the novel feature of adj ustability whereby the governor may be readily adapted to varying requirements of intensity in the electric current by which it is operated. By this means a greater or less intensity in the lights may be obtained, various forms of lamps requiring different intensities of current may be interchangeably used in the circuit, and the number of lamps in the circuit may be varied from time to time, as occasion may require, while the same governor, by means of the ad- 2 5 justing feature referred to, is capable of being adapted to these several various conditions.

The invention also embraces novel features in the governor-valve, which are sufficiently described to illustrate the operation of the apparatus, but which, being adapted to other situations and uses, may form the subject of a separate application for patent. The distinctive feature of said valve is its adaptability to close the steam-passage by an extreme movement in either direction, as will be further explained.

The invention also embraces certain features of arrangement of the magnet with reference to the axis and stem of the valve, as will also be further explained.

The accompanying drawing shows the governor -valve of the construction herein contemplated located in the steamsupply pipe of an engine, and combined with the electric mechanism and adjusting devices by which the position of the valve is controlled in the operation of the electric current.

A is the governor-valve, and A is the stopvalve, of the steam-supply pipe. 13 is the 50 stem of the governor-valve. O is the arch. I)

is a hollow helical electro-ma-gnet surmounting the arch, and E is an armature attached to the stem 13, and adapted in form and position to enter the spool of the magnet D.

The engine with which the governor is to be used is supposed to drive an electric generator or dynamo of any form, which dynamo may be usedexclusively for the purpose of operating the governor, or it may also be connected to supply any desired number of electric lights, or to do any other form of work for which such apparatus is required or adapted. Neither the engine nor the dynamo is here shown, for the reason that the invention contemplates nothing novel in the construction of either, and that the method of connecting the helix D of the governor in the current from the generator is sufficiently indicated in the draw ing.

The valve herein shown contains the spe- 7o cial feature of being adapted to close by an extrememovementineitherdirection. Itconsists of an open-ended cylinder provided with openings through its sides in its middle portion, and seated within two cylindric seats em- 75 bracing its opposite ends, said seats being cast in the same piece, but separated by a passage by which the steam is admitted around the central portion of the movable valve between the seats, so as to enter the ports above de scribed, and find escape at opposite ends of the valve. The valve and its seats are inclosed within a globe-shell in the usual manner of this general class of valves. The valve described can be operated to partially close off the steam from the engine by a movement in either di rection, and will be perfectly closed when the central ports are brought wholly within either the upper or the lower cylindric seats. The cylinder is of course constructed of such length that when the central ports are brought into either seat so as to close them the other end at the same time protrudes into the opposite seat and cuts off the supply of steam.

In the application of this valve to the pur- 9 5 poses of an electric governor, as herein contemplated, it is designed that the ports of the valve shall work in connection with the upper cylindric valve-seat, said ports being closed more or less as the valve is thrown upward by 100 the action of the electric current through the magnet; but it is also contemplated that after the engine is shut down, by closing the stopvalve A in the usual way the valve shall be forced downward so that its ports are closed within the lower seat. Itis also contemplated, as will be herein explained,that in case the electric current is broken, or in case the drivingbelt of the engine is broken, that the valve will be closed by being thrown downward so that its ports are carried within the lower seat.

In the construction and arrangement here shown the helix D is applied toahollow spool with its axis coincident with that of the valvestem B, being mounted fixedly upon the arch O. The insulated wires d d terminatein binding-posts d, fixed to the spool, as shown, one or both of said posts being properly insulated from the spool, and both being adapted to re ceive the wires (1 d leading to and from the dynamo, and thereby bringing the helix Dinto the electric circuit of said dynamo. The valvestem B is provided with the armature E, affixed thereto in proper position with reference to the helix to be raised by the latter when the force of the electric current is augmented therein. Said stem is also provided with the fixed collars or shoulders I) 1), between which projects the branched end of the lever F, pivoted in the arch Oat f. The outer end of said lever is connected with the fixed arm G by the contractile spring H, made adjustable as to its tension by the screw-threaded hook I and thumb-nut J.

By depressing the outer end of the lever F the stem B may be raised to bring the valve A into working position, as shownthat is to say, with the ports in the steamspace between the seats. WVhenever the speed of the engine becomes too great,the corresponding excessive force of the electric current, operating through the magnet D, will raise the valve and bring its ports partly within the upper seat, and therebyproportionately cutoff the steamsupply and lower the speed of the engine. Said stem is also shown prolonged through the upper end plate, D, of the spool, (which serves as a guide therefor,) and provided at its free extremity with a ring, B, by which also the valve may be raised to working position.

The lower shoulder, b, is exclusively used in the operation of the apparatus, being the only one upon which the lever bears by reason of the action of the spring in opposition to the attractive force exerted by the electromagnet on the armature. The upper shoulder is used when in starting the machine it is desired to lift the valve by hearing down with the hand on the outer end of the lever. By placing the shoulders at a distance apart such as shown, the upper shoulder cannot norinally rest on the lever so as to hold the valve up, it being observed that avalve of this class closes by reason of its weight automatically when the current is shut off or broken, and thereby prevents the engine from running away. The ring, when present at the top end of the valve-stem, may, however, be taken hold of and used as a means for conveniently lifting the valve-stem, in place of depressing the outer end of the lever.

In the use of the particular form of valve shown, or of other forms having similar action, should the current be broken the valve falls by its weight or by its weight re-enforced by the spring H, and closes off the steamsupply by carrying the ports of the cylindric valve into the lower seat.

Not only may the required uniformity of enginespeed be obtained by the means shown under varying work, as in other forms of governor, but in the use of the engine for the purpose of generating electricity for illumination the speed of the engine will be lessened or accelerated automatically when a number of lights are shut off or connected into the circuit. By means of the adjusting device applied to the spring H operating through the lever F, as described, a greater or less intensity in the lights may also be obtained, various forms of lamps requiring different intensities of current may be interchangeably used, and the number of lamps in the circuit may be varied from time to time, as may be desired, the adjustable spring being readily varied in its tension so as to control the valve in opposition to currents of differing power.

After the above description of the devices employed a detailed description of the operation is unnecessary. It is obvious that in the normal working of the machine the action of the magnet is to draw the valve-cylinder upward, so that its ports will be regulated as to their area, and so as to control the amount of steam admitted to the engine in accordance with the force exerted by the magnet upon the armature E, the spring H operating through the lever F to depress the valve and open the ports whenever the force of the current is di minished. Vhile the spring I-I, however, thus operates in conjunction with the magnetic current, it is plain that when said current ceases, as may happen from avarietyof causes, or when a driving'belt breaks or is thrown off its pulleys between the engine and the dynamo, the effect of said spring will be to instantly throw the cylindric valve to its extreme lower position, carrying its ports within the lower seat so as to shut off steam. In other words, the spring H operates to open the ports when the electric current is in action through the magnet D but in the absence of such current it serves to give the valve a throw of such extent as to close said ports and shut off steam. By using other means to close the valve in case the current is broken or a belt is thrown off, or by omitting all devices for this purpose, the adj ustable spring I-I may be employed with other forms of valve than that here shown, with the same effect as to the variation of force in the magnet D under conditions above mentioned. It is manifest that a solid-core magnet may IIO also be employed, if preferred, with only mechanical modifications of the construction shown.

It is further obvious that the governor described may be applied to control an engine through the medium of a variable cut-off by connecting the armature with the rod or other part operating the cut-off mechanism.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with the steam-supply pipe of an engine, of a regulator-valve comprising two valve apertures or seats, and a movable part constructed to close one or the other of said apertures by either of its two extreme movements, an electro magnet, an armature'secured upon the stem of said valve,- and a spring applied to oppose the attractive ALBERT L. IDE.

Witnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, WV. 0. ADAMS. 

